Reform in the Douro
‘The Douro Deserves Better’
Is the claim of some of the Portwine Industries main characters, such as Antonio Filipe, Antonio Saraiva, Christian Seely, Cristiano van Zeller ,Dirk Niepoort, Emídio Gomes to name a few.
A translated version of the appeal you can read here:
”The Douro Demarcated Region is known internationally for being one of the wonders of the wine world. It contains more than half of the world's mountain vineyards. It has UNESCO World Heritage status. There is no comparable region in any country. More than 19,000 winegrowers and 1,000 companies are passionately cultivating these challenging vineyards, producing two highly recognized wines: Port Wine and DOC Douro wine.
However, the last twenty years have been characterized by a drop of almost 25% in Port Wine sales volume, to 7.8 million cases of 9 liters. In the same period, sales of DOC Douro wines grew significantly to 5.2 million cases.
Despite these profound changes, the regulatory framework has not changed, remaining essentially unchanged for almost 100 years. The current system is promoting devastating distortions that are impacting not only the price of grapes, but also the socio-economic sustainability of winegrowers, companies, and the future of their wines in international markets.
The 'benefit' system – introduced in the 1930s – establishes the quantity of grapes destined for the production of Port Wine. This limit is adjusted annually, depending on a number of factors, namely the quality and levels of supply and demand. A similar system is practiced in the most important European wine regions. However, DOC Douro wine grapes are sold on the free market and, as a rule, in an environment of excess supply.
The Douro is suffering from reduced Port volumes and an outdated regulatory environment. Consequently many grapes are sold below their cost of production. The damage to winegrowers is obvious, resulting in the abandonment of the vineyard and the depopulation of the region. A situation made worse by climate change that is seriously impacting our region.
Equally serious is the fact that too many wines are sold internationally at prices comparable to the cheapest in the world – something that would never be possible if winegrowers received a fair price for their grapes. We're getting the message across that the Douro produces cheap wines, when nothing could be further from the truth. Our cost of production, per kg, is among the highest in the world, and the yield per hectare is among the lowest – because of the unique characteristics of the mountain vineyard in the Douro.
Over the past 15 years, several studies carried out by renowned entities, including UTAD (University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro), have concluded that the Douro is not sustainable under these circumstances and that it needs reform in its regulatory framework. But nothing was done, despite promises from the state.
No wine region can withstand this imbalance for so long, suffering so much damage to its image and the economy of its communities. Incomprehensible inaction is damaging one of the most historic, beautiful and challenging wine regions in the world. There are, however, solutions that are within our reach, namely short-term emergency measures and other, more structuring, medium and long-term measures. The Douro needs a strategy for the future built on a scientific basis led by an independent entity, in consultation with key stakeholders in the region.
We appeal to producers, viticulturists, traders and respective Associations, the Ministry of Agriculture, the CIM of Douro, and the Institute of Douro and Port Wines, to urgently address this situation. We should be proud of the Douro, its people and its wines, but currently we can only feel frustration and sadness at the serious and unnecessary damage that the inertia in changing the regulatory and institutional framework is causing.”
To read the full article and to vote/ sign the partition, please follow this link.
